20 year-old Croatian striker prospect, Roko Šimić, is flying high to start his Champions League campaign with Red Bull Salzburg. Šimić earned MOTM honors with a penalty kick goal and assist in a 2-0 victory over Portuguese side Benfica. He did all this in 71 minutes as well.
After a missed penalty kick attempt by teammate Karim Konate in the 3rd minute of the match, RB Salzburg were awarded another spot kick only 12 minutes later as Benfica’s Antonio Silva used his hand to swipe the ball away from the goal line. Šimić stepped up to the spot and confidently ripped the ball into the bottom-right corner of the net. Nearly un-saveable. This is exactly the type of striker Croatia is looking for at the moment. Confident and fearless.
In the 2nd half, Šimić unselfishly passed the ball to teammate Gloukh on a fast counter-attack to make it 2-0 and essentially end the game against 10-man Benfica. An absolutely fantastic start to the season for Šimić who should start getting called up to the Croatian senior side after Euro 2024 concludes.
Benfica’s Petar Musa got the start for Benfica but couldn’t do much with his side going down a man 15 minutes into the match. Luka Sučić came on for RB Salzburg in the 71st minute.
In other news, Luka Modrić got the start for Real Madrid and played 80 minutes in 1-0 victory over Union Berlin. Jude Bellingham scored with the last kick of the match in injury time even though Real Madrid should have scored 3+ goals. Two went off the post. Modrić was given a 7/10 grade from 90min.com as he “Still plenty of life in the old dog yet, often exhibiting his wonderful passing range. Couldn’t quite make the vital contribution in attacking areas.”
Josip Juranović played the full 90 for Union Berlin in the loss.
Unfortunately, we cannot truly replace what Perisic brings to the repka. His leadership, passion, drive, skills, and versatility is legendary. I hope this passion for the repka rubs off on our youngsters.
Hopefully his presence on the sidelines is enough to motivate the younger guys.
We can’t expect a 35 year old to give more than he already has. I was hoping we could squeeze every last drop out of him though lol. I was banking on us doing well in these Eurod, and even though he’s lost a step, he’s still one of those guys who can score a goal out of nowhere for you.
Losing Oršić makes the situation worse, especially since Oršić was even more impactful at the World Cup than Perišić.
I considered Oršić as the perfect stop-gap winger for the next couple of tournaments ( until a youngster steps up).
Hopefully Orša is ready for the Euros.
Orsic, probably plays a mean game of darts, horseshoes, and Bocce. Every shot on goal seems to be on frame, consistent, and a real chance to do damage. Unselfish, antithetical to you know who, I won’t name names. Don’t want to piss off fan club members.
Dinamo killing it 3-0 currently
Petko two from pk? Not watching it
Let’s hope musa and simic go off this year and give us real options for euro
I guess the only bright side of losing Perisic now is more time to find something that can work in his spot
Geez only 6 months ago we had him and orsic and now wtf
Can Marco pasalic play on the wing? I know he’s been good this year as reports here go
Pjaca come back kid two bad knees for Perisic and orsic one each;)
What about Vidović if he keeps killing it at Dinamo?
Watched the game and Vidovic was subbed in the 70th minute. Watched a lot of him play for our youth teams and this is the first time that I have seen him play in the senior ranks against grown up men. The kid has good technical ability and ball skills, however he lacks pace/speed on and off the ball. He played on the left wing and I’m not sure that is his best position considering his lack of pace.
Due to his lack of pace I don’t think that he will be going back to Bayern anytime soon or ever for that matter. He might be more suited playing in the midfield behind the strikers, however Dinamo has Baturina and Bulat in those positions. As far as him playing for our senior national team ? I think that is way down the track and definitely not as a forward. If he improves, we would need to find a spot for him in the midfield.
I believe he is supposed to play as a second striker (between the #9 and #10) kind of like Andrej Kramarić.
But when he was playing for Vitesse on loan, he was put on the left side.
From what I have seen, he has great skills and a nose for goal.
His pace is better than Krama’s. We have to see how he develops since we forget how young he still is, and is playing far above his age group.
Also…if Krama can play on the wing, so can Vidović.
It may seem weird but Vidović reminds me of a smaller version of Pjaca (pre-injury).
Obviously not as strong, but he’s good at turning around his opponents and making those darting runs toward the box.
Yes, I agree with your comments the kid will be 20 in December so we have to wait and see how he develops. One hopes that he will also get stronger physically.
It was a good move coming to Dinamo and playing in HNL and at the same time getting experience playing in Europe, which will benefit his future development.
Pjaca WAS far more explosive (prior to his injury) than Vidovic and his skill set was also different…Pjaca could kill you from a 1v1 position, starting out with a dead position and then BOOM, he’d make a fake and easily coast past most players…he was fabulous at dribbling at top speeds while Vidovic is more like Petkovic and will dribble you in a phone booth, make cheeky passes and has great anticipation for playmaking! I’d like to see Vidovic at his natural position but I also think he might be able to manage some open space on the wing….I just haven’t seen enough of his service into the box!
I’m a big fan of technically gifted players, so I’m all for Vidović on the National Team in the long run (even if it costs us ‘pace’).
Being the elite technical team in the World should be our goal.
Dominating possession against all our opponents, while having an elite CB pairing will lead to a lot of success.
Brazil and Spain are the two most dominant teams in terms of possession and technical ability, and neither of them can beat us in regulation.
I’m perfectly fine watching all of our players walking up the field and nutmegging our opponents.
To some, that may be boring football, but not for me.
I think we do have a lot of gifted talent, we seem to generate these types of players not only in Croatia but all over the world. with that said, we still need guys like Broz, Mandzo, Olic….they add the physicality required to battle and win games.
If you get the chance to watch Vidovic in the HNL, he really seems to have some excellent technical skills. the guy is very calm on the ball and he gets through tight spaces very well!
Yea I think that all we need is a bunch of highly technical players, with a Mandzo type striker up top.
I was wrong about Krama on the wing, as he’s been good there this past year or so. Ivanusec seems to do well there too, even though neither are true wingers. It seems like if we field an entire team of technical players, we can play “keep away” with the ball and the opposing players are unable to get it off us.
This is why I am glad Rebic is off the team. Euro2020 really showed us what happens when you have one weak link, and his inability to make a dribble or pass really hurt us.
It’s probably the reason why Spain never played Adama Traore (even when he was at his peak) because his brutish game doesn’t jive with their tika taka style.
Having a big and tall striker up top, that can finish all the chances that our technical team creates is all that we are missing.
Obviously, on the defensive end…everyone has to buy-in to pressuring the opposition.
Rebic and Mandzo (with Perisic) on our WC2018 squad was fun to watch, with the constant pressure…but even today, I am noticing guys like Krama and Ivanusec (who aren’t naturally physical guys) applying pressure on the opposition and winning the ball back.
I think this is a reason why Majer isn’t playing as much. He doesn’t apply any defensive pressure.
Technically gifted players, from our backline to midfield and wingers…with everyone buying into the defensive pressure, and a capable frontman up top, is what we need to work toward.
We have the technical/creativity footballing culture and the tall physical specimens to maintain this moving forward.
Musa should have scored on the chance he had in the 50th minute. Great angle with the far post at his mercy, but he didn’t look balanced. He needed to be precise, looks as though he got happy feet and launched himself at it. If you have ever played forward you know that angle is perfect; the keeper has no chance if he puts it 8 inches to his right. Šteta because it could have changed the game, Salzburg came down and scored right after. He also had a nice control and turn into the box in the 58th but his angle was too tight on that occasion to go far post. He looks solid yet nimble, Not cumbersome like Mandza or Petko.
Impressive performance from both Musa and Simic.
Extended highlights for the Benfica vs Salzburg game:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWN-y5_Vh4E
Musa actually played really well today! He fought courageously down a-man and put some quality Chances on target!
Based off the extended highlights, I really like what Musa brings.
Musa is a big striker who can force his way into the opponent’s box with ease, and is skilled enough to make a good pass or create for himself.
Roko was excellent but he seems like he thrives in the open field on counter attacks (which is useful against the one or two teams in the World that can dominate possession over us).
I need to see more of what Roko brings when he is in a crowded box.
The kid just turned 20 so this is great news for us.
I’m hoping Livaja has a bad season and falls out of our National Team which will give some of our younger strikers a chance.
Livaja can only dream of ever playing (let alone scoring) in the Champions League.
Josip’s jersey said Juranovic not Juranović. Come on, Union.